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robbinvs
Community Member

Upwork disables TransferWise Borderless

Like many other freelancers, I have been using TransferWise Borderless to withdraw my Upwork earnings. In my case, as I am located in Czech Republic, this is very convenient: I can directly convert USD to CZK without any unnecessary fees.

 

Today, Upwork support informed me that this would no longer be possible, as Upwork is discontinuing support for withdrawals via TransferWise. Their official reasoning is that it would be difficult for freelancers to track any missing payments, as they do not officially own said accounts. Instead, they recommend using the locally available withdrawal methods.

 

However, I think we all know that the real reason for disabling this withdrawal method is that Upwork is not making any money this way.

 

Just to illustrate, I am about to withdraw USD 4k to CZK. Via TransferWise, this would have net CZK 89.750 after fees. Choosing withdrawal in EUR to local bank account would net CZK 86.750 after fees and converting USD > EUR > CZK. PayPal is even worse, netting CZK 83.100 after all fees.

 

This means that the difference between TransferWise and the most expensive alternative is CZK 6.650 (nearly USD 300); the other alternative will cost me approximately USD 130 in fees and bad rates. These are costs I am forced to pay on top of Upwork's already high fees.

 

The worst is that Upwork absolutely refuses to consider re-enabling withdrawals via TransferWise. I have withdrawn thousands of dollars without ever having a single issue. And if the need arose, their support was always outstanding.

 

Many times, freelancers have requested official support for TransferWise or alternative services that do not cost an arm and a leg. And every time, Upwork answered something along the lines of that it will be shared with the team.

 

For me, it is fairly simple: the more I am being squeezed as a freelancer, the more I will take my business elsewhere and will advise other freelancers to do the same. Or for Upwork to simply let us withdraw via TransferWise, which was first suggested in 2015.

 

I usually cannot be bothered to publicly voice my complaints, but for me, this was the proverbial last straw. Hopefully Upwork can provide a better answer this time as to if or when we can finally expect support for TransferWise.

40 REPLIES 40

Because Upwork is greedy: they have a  special deal with Payoneer, and not with Transwerwise. The former, probably, pays them back some fees, whereas the latter not.

 

And if Upwork allowed everyone to use Transferwise, who in the sane mind would use Payoneer? No one uses Payoneer -- no fees for Upwork from Payoneer.

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